Parking with any part of the vehicle on the sidewalk.
of the 190,735 drivers who took this exact violation to a hearing had it dismissed outright — they paid nothing at all. Another 32.4% paid less than the ticket said.
The city gives you 30 days from the date on the ticket to ask for a hearing before late penalties start (nyc.gov — Dispute a ticket, checked 2026-09-04). Miss it and you can still be heard, but a judge who finds you guilty will add the penalties. Leave it entirely and the ticket goes into judgment about 100 days after it was issued (same page) — after that the city can collect, and once judgment debt on your plates reaches $350 the vehicle can be booted, then towed if that is unpaid 48 hours later (nyc.gov — Booting and towing, checked 2026-09-04). So tonight is early. You have room.
Of the 80 violation types New York publishes hearing outcomes for, this one is 24th by how often drivers contest it — 190,735 decided hearings. It comes out 8.6 points worse than the citywide 26.2%, so this is a charge the city usually makes stick — 17.6% dismissed outright.
And look at the second number: 32.4 points of the outcomes are reductions, not dismissals. About 18 in 100 walked out paying nothing — 17.6% — and roughly 32 more paid a smaller amount. On this ticket, "I got somewhere" is more often a cheaper fine than a canceled one — worth knowing before you decide what a hearing is worth to you.
The price is the same in all five boroughs: $115.
Look — I'm not going to tell you you'll win. Plenty of people don't, and this page will say so when the city's own file says so. What I can tell you is that on this charge about 18 out of every 100 drivers who bothered to argue it walked away paying nothing, the argument costs you an evening and no money at all, and the city writes down every result whether it likes them or not. Read the numbers, take your photos, and decide with your eyes open. If something here is wrong, email me. One person reads that mail and answers it; expect a reply within a few days.
Not sure this is even the ticket you have?
Put in your plate and state and we'll pull every open violation on it straight from the city's live records — what's owed, how long until each one hits judgment, and the dismissal rate stamped on each ticket. The plate never appears in the address bar and we store none of it.
Look up my plate → · Or check this ticket for a fatal defect →A sidewalk parking ticket in New York City costs $115 — the same amount anywhere in the five boroughs. Source: the New York City Department of Finance fine schedule, violation code 51 (nyc.gov — parking violation codes and fines), checked 2026-09-02. The amount already includes the $15 New York State Criminal Justice surcharge; late penalties and interest are added on top of it.
~18% dismiss. Driveways and curb cuts generate wrongful tickets (parked across your OWN driveway is a different rule), and overhang disputes win with good photos. It costs you time, not money — the hearing is free — and 17.6% of the 190,735 drivers who took this exact charge to a hearing had it dismissed outright, with 32.4 points more ending in a reduced fine (NYC Open Data hearing dispositions, computed 2026-08-31).
Vehicle in a legal driveway/curb cut, not blocking the walking path (rules differ — own-driveway cases have specific protections) Overhang dispute — photograph wheel positions. Ticket mislocates the vehicle. Bring: Photos of exact position incl. wheels and walkway, Property/driveway documentation for own-driveway cases.
Thirty days from the date on the ticket to request a hearing before late penalties start, and about 100 days from issue before an unanswered ticket goes into judgment (nyc.gov, Dispute a ticket, checked 2026-09-04). Requesting the hearing is free online, on the Pay or Dispute app, or by mail.
Where you were heard matters a little too: across all violation types the boroughs run from 23% to 31.1% dismissed outright. Those are marginals across every charge, not a figure for this one — we hold the city's borough totals and its violation totals, not the cross-tab, and we won't manufacture it. All five boroughs →
Different charge, different odds — none of these is the 17.6% above. Each figure below belongs to the charge it sits on.
Last, and small, and it changes none of the 17.6% above: the builder turns this page plus your own account of the sidewalk parking ticket into a hearing statement. Free to build, free to read, $12.99 for the clean copy. One payment. No subscription. No cut of your fine. Writing it yourself is free and always will be.
← All 80 violation types, with what each one costs
Dismissal rates computed 2026-08-31 from NYC Open Data hearing dispositions. Fine amounts from the NYC Department of Finance schedule, checked 2026-09-02. Deadlines from nyc.gov, Dispute a ticket, checked 2026-09-04. Boot and tow rules from nyc.gov, Booting and towing, checked 2026-09-04. Past outcomes don't guarantee any individual result.
Published · Updated
Thank you. That goes straight to the person who writes these pages.
That didn't send — try once more.